About 'Moonlight Sonata'

One of the greatest and most radical composers of all time. A tormented genius, who went deaf in later life and never heard his final works. His nine symphones are probably his greatest achievement, each one an unrivalved masterpiece, but he also wrote 5 piano concertos, piano sonatas, string quartets and one opera, Fidelio.

Composition Date:

1801

Composition Info:

The first movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 'Quasi una fantasia' in C sharp minor Op. 27 No. 2, 'Moonlight' is one of the most popular piano pieces ever written. The sonata got its name when poet Ludwig Rellstab described the music as being 'like moonlight shining on a lake' in 1832.